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New Mexico General Election Results and Live Updates

People vote at a Venice Beach lifeguard station in Los Angeles. Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters.

by PBS NewsHour11/6/2012 5:50:08 PM

BOISE, Idaho -- Lines are longer than usual in Idaho so far, but reports from around the state are that they are moving quickly.

Though the top of the ballot is thin this year -- none of Idaho's statewide seats are up -- Secretary of State Ben Ysursa expects as many as 78 percent of registered voters to turn out, for two main reasons: Mitt Romney, who has visited the state many times to raise money and who spent some time in a relative's Idaho ranch as a youth, and a slate of controversial education reform propositions that have attracted more than $1 million in spending on both sides (considered a lot in a state with just 1.5 million residents).

Idaho has two congressional seats, both held by Republicans, who traditionally have an extra edge here in presidential election years.

Seven-term Rep. Mike Simpson, who has won comfortably since his first race, faces Democratic state Sen. Nicole LeFavour, who has a core of strong support in the Boise area but faces tougher crowds in more conservative southern and eastern Idaho. Outspoken freshman Republican Rep. Raul Labrador, a tea party favorite who has stood up to both President Obama and Speaker John Boehner, faces a newcomer: former NFL wide receiver Jimmy Farris.

The Idaho Legislature will remain one of the most Republican in the nation, but there are a few key races in Boise and elsewhere -- the first since the redistricting caused by the 2010 Census.

Updates from the Gem State will come from Idaho Public Television's Greg Hahn, the host and producer of Idaho Reports, a weekly show devoted to the Legislature, state politics and other statewide issues.

Columbia, S.C. -- Long lines are the norm in sunny Columbia, S. C. Some precincts complaining of not enough voting machines or machines that are broken. Several hundred of us waited patiently in line at Brennen Elementary School. Nice way to catch up with your neighbors!

by South Carolina ETV edited by PBS NewsHour11/6/2012 5:56:00 PM

BOISE, Idaho -- Idaho allows same-day voter registration, and the line for first-timers was long at this Boise precinct, according to Idaho Public Television's Marcia Franklin, who snapped this shot inside Whittier Elementary School Tuesday morning.

In Easton, Pa., signs outside polling places offered "$1,000 Reward for Information Leading to a Voter Fraud Conviction." An activist in the area has complained, saying they intimidate voters, the Express-Times of Lehigh Valley, Pa., reports.

BOISE, Idaho -- It will surprise no one when Idaho's four electoral votes go to Mitt Romney. Idaho hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964. But this year is a little different for a lot of Idaho residents: Romney's fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints make up about a quarter of Idaho's population.

Like Catholics who had a chance to vote for John F. Kennedy and African-Americans who helped put President Barack Obama in the White House, a vote for Romney for many in Idaho is a powerful symbolic gesture. Idaho territory banned Mormons from being able to vote or sit on juries -- and that sentiment carried into Idaho's early statehood.

In fact, although the provisions weren't enforced for many decades, language barring LDS church members from voting wasn't removed from the Idaho Constitution until 1982.

The concern in the 1800s, according to the Idaho Human Rights Commission, was that the church members tended to vote as a block. Idaho has had some well-known Democratic Mormon elected officials, but they are certainly in the minority.

NEW YORK CITY -- And so it begins! At the firehouse in Nesconset, N.Y. , locals lined up to vote before work, coffee in hand. Almost all of Nesconset's power has been restored and gas has become less scarce, so this Monday, everyone could return to work. This was my first time voting for the president and when I put my ballot into the machine it was liberating. Now I am off to Stony Brook University to see what voting will be like there. Did student residents care enough to fill out absentee ballots? Did commuter students get the chance to vote before class or are certain polling places washed away? We will find out. Reported by Philly Bubarbais.

The Pennsylvania GOP alleges that Democratic elections workers have told Republican Party members they aren't allowed at polling places.

by Katelyn Polantz11/6/2012 6:03:10 PM

Stony Brook, N.Y. - A line of about 100 students wait to cast their vote in the auditorium at Stony Brook University in Long Island. Many commuter students chose to vote here to save gas, therefore giving up their say in local elections. Reported by Philly Bubaris.

by Georgia Kral, THIRTEEN/WLIW11/6/2012 6:03:50 PM

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolinians expressed many emotions with me as they left polling places this morning: pride in voting, a loyalty to a candidate, concern about an issue. But one emotion every voter shared with me was relief that the campaign ads are finished. The National Journal reports almost $70 million spent on political ads across the state. That’s the sixth highest amount in the U.S. and it works out to almost $10 per registered voter. The Obama campaign spent $24.2 million in the state while the Romney campaign spent $17.1 million. Other groups accounted for the rest of the ad spending with pro-Romney groups spending double the amount of pro-Obama groups. As Steve from Cary, N.C., told me, “I tuned out after a while, and zipped past all of them with my DVR."

by frank graff edited by PBS NewsHour11/6/2012 6:07:41 PM

Listen to an update from Brandon Smith of Indiana Public Broadcasting on which regions could decide the outcome of a close Senate race between Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly and Republican Richard Mourdock.

by Allie Morris11/6/2012 6:08:54 PM

RT @BeauBiden: So proud to have just voted for @barackobama and my pop, @joebiden. -bb

Here in sunny San Diego we have a nail-biter of a race for a House seat, long held by Republican Brian Bilbray, but now in play due to redistricting. His new district is split between Democrat and Republican voters. Immigrant rights activists left shoes outside Bilbray's office recently in protest of his famous line that law enforcement can tell an illegal immigrant by how they dress, "right down to their shoes." Bilbray's opponent, Democrat Scott Peters, has said he supports the DREAM Act, though he is generally vague on many immigration issues, according to activists.

by Suzanne Marmion11/6/2012 6:17:20 PM

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a story regarding confusion at polls in Pennsylvania because of voter ID regulations that were deferred until after this election. The newspaper also reports on the GOP's assertion that its poll watchers were barred from precincts.

BALTIMORE -- Average wait time in Maryland is an hour. Lots of ballot initiatives: normally it takes 10 minutes. People have been saying they are ready for the election to be over but are tolerating the wait.

by Charles Robinson edited by PBS NewsHour11/6/2012 6:24:19 PM

I voted early. Have you voted yet?? If not you still have 6+ hours to make it to the polls. Go Vote!!

DENVER -- Colorado's Secretary of State's office has released updated turnout numbers, through 10:10 a.m. Mountain Time (and including all pre-election day results). Fifty-two percent of Colorado's registered voters have now cast their ballots. Reportedly, 34,853 more Republicans have voted than Democrats, a slight widening of their lead from early voting, although still only a 1.8 percent advantage. Unaffiliated voters, Colorado's largest registration block, make up 29 percent of the total votes cast so far.

It's a race to the finish in Massachusetts. Listen to an update from WGBH political reporter Adam Reilly on the close contest between Republican Sen. Scott Brown and his Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren.

by Allie Morris11/6/2012 6:41:30 PM

CARY, N.C. -- Election officials report large crowds when polls opened and a steady turnout after that. It's predicted 69 percent of the state's 6.6 million registered voters will cast ballots. Forty-one percent of those registered voters have already taken advantage of early voting.

MISSOULA, Mont. -- With snow-capped Lolo Peak in the distance, a steady trickle of voters showed up in central Missoula to cast their ballots Tuesday. The in-person voting was reported to be light, but throughout the state absentee voting and today's turnout seemed on par with 2008. Montana has a history of high numbers of voters casting ballots and estimates from reporters around the state indicated this year could surpass 70 percent.

by Lee Banville11/6/2012 6:47:55 PM

From McClatchy Newspapers White House correspondent Lesley Clark on Vice President Joe Biden: "Asked his post-Obama plans, VP tells Ohio woman: 'I'm going to go back home and run for county council or something.' "

Thousands of California acres are ablaze as firefighters battle at least 21 wildfires throughout the state, but while many of those fires are small or mostly contained, the wind and heat that are spreading the Rocky Fire in Northern California -- and...